Starbucks, do you remember when the German government lowered the VAT in July 2020 for restaurants when COVID hit us? The intention was to make food cheaper for the consumer to prevent restaurants from going bankrupt.
That’s the month you increased your prizes to sell your stuff for the same prize including VAT as before and making more profit, giving your customers a huge middle finger.
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
It wasn’t just starbucks. Also, people still went there to get coffee. I do not like those people.
I’m fron Germany and have never bought anything there. There tax evation strategy is disgusting. They use our roads, our people, our country and pay close to 0 taxes in Luxembourg or Panama with money earned in Germany.
Wow that’s BS. I don’t pay attention to them because I don’t drink their garbage coffee, and as an American this never crossed my radar from this angle either. Screw Starbucks.
Started going to a small local coffee shop a little over two years ago, and I’ll never go back to the giant chains. The people working are always happy, greet regulars by name, always go out of their way to interact or talk with me- usually remember something we talked about before, comp my orders every now and then, host little events, etc. It’s not just them either - I always have a way better experience going to non-chain coffee places. Oh, and the coffee is always waay better and priced better.
Sometimes I’ll work out of a small local cafe that roasts their own beans on site.
It’s insane how much better the coffee is for the same price, and they know my order before I even say anything.
Plus, I can get excellent beans from them to brew at home, and I’m supporting a local business instead of a megacorp.
Bullshit on it being priced better. Provide examples, not anecdotes. Where are you located?
Yeah! What’s your shoe size, OP? You got a dog? A cat? A mother? “Everyone” has one, right. You seriously expect us to believe that? Prove it! Come on, what’s her maiden name? Her date of birth? Her routing number! Where was she last thursday night, out back of bakers garage like she was supposed’ta be? Better make sure you get your facts straight OP, or me and my partner Flippy “The Iceman” here will show ya what we do to commenters down in jersey what don’t put up with our unreasonable demands, capiche?
The first thing Starbucks did when they bought Teavana was increase the prices by 25 - 50%, despite them already being on the upper end of local looseleaf tea shops.
Combine that with the change from actual tea to sugar-added, Oprah approved crap signed the death warrant for that chain.
Dutch Bros is where it’s at. Actually good roasts and the same price or less. That said, I make my own Americano at home in about 2 min while making breakfast and it’s consistently great.
Dutch Bro’s has some rule that the staff has to flirt with the customers. Creeps me out.
Durch Bros. has been good every time I’ve tried them. I don’t believe their coffee is markedly better than any other coffee chain. It comes down to how much you pay your staff, so that they give a shit about their jobs, so that tasks like roasting beans and cleaning equipment is done properly and regularly.
Good
I haven’t gone to Starbucks for a regular coffee since they changed to only serving Pike’s Place Roast (like 10+ years ago).
It should tell them something when you go to the grocery store, Starbucks is on sale, and they are out of Breakfast Blend, House Blend, and Veranda Blend, but they have full shelves of fucking Pike’s. There are several gas station brand coffees better than that swill.
They actually don’t just serve PPR, generally, every store will have Veranda (Light) and either Verona or Sumatra (Both dark) depending on the week you visit. Some stores even have decaf Pike now.
They should try making good coffee
Also, good pastries again.
The good cafes next to me all have fresh baked pastries from a local bakery. Not Starbucks. 7-11 has better food than Starbucks.
My sister used to manage a coffee shop and says they would never hire former Starbucks employees because they are trained to make it very poorly.
When your coffee tasting notes are “burned, charcoal, ash”, and you make up for it by offering £7 worth of sugar, it’s not surprising when people only shop there for so long.
They make desserts using coffee as an ingredient. That’s why their coffee is shit at being coffee.
Vanilla makes a pancake delicious, but you wouldn’t drink it.
but you wouldn’t drink it.
Hey I had to try it at least once!
(Also: at most once)
You should try again
I resent you for the bad taste now in my mouth, but I thank you for giving me an excuse to break from doomscrolling :P
You just didn’t drink enough
And not supporting the RNC.
How do they support the RNC?
https://content-prod-live.cert.starbucks.com/binary/v2/asset/137-78795.pdf
Starbucks does not directly support the RNC. But that doesn’t mean that Starbucks’ lobbying money doesn’t primarily support Republicans. Per the PDF you linked, the majority of Starbucks’ contributions to lobbying organizations went to those that donate at least 75% of their lobbying to Republicans.
From your link: National Restaurant Association: 75% of all donations to Republicans; 50% of Starbucks’ donations to this organization went to lobbying Business Roundtable: “75 percent of donations from the median chief executive were directed to Republicans”; 40% of Starbucks’ donations to this organization went to lobbying
Edit: Added the word “lobbying” before “money” in the first paragraph. Should have been in the original.
There was an article during the convention that listed supporters. I’ll look for it.
ETA- my mistake. It was a fake that was shared on Facebook and Twitter. It must have been here too because i don’t have Twitter and my Facebook is only cats and relatives.
They never will though. Recently, they had “expert tasters” test how long their espresso shots tasted good, and their result was that “Starbucks espresso shots last up to 90 seconds.” This just so happened to take place right as they started introducing a new system on how to sequence drinks while on the espresso and cold beverage bars lol.
(Also, as a footnote, Espresso shots die after 5-10 seconds; the crema just dissipates after then, making the shot taste acidic)
So, off topic, but are you saying that I’m to drink a scalding hot, freshly pulled shot within 10 seconds!?
(Also, as a footnote, Espresso shots die after 5-10 seconds; the crema just dissipates after then, making the shot taste acidic)
Espresso shots “dying” within 10 seconds is a myth, apparently started by Starbucks’ training funnily enough. The flavour of a shot definitely dies down as it gets cooler and the crema dissipates, but it’s a matter of minutes rather than seconds before a shot tastes bad.
Heck it takes more than 10 seconds to get the drink to the clients in every café I’ve worked in. If espresso dies after 10 seconds, I have never served a good espresso. I’ve also apparently never had good espresso at work, because I swear every damn time I pull a shot for myself a client comes right in before I can take a sip :P
When I read that comment the first time, I misunderstood, and thought they were saying espresso was over-extracted after 10s, dead after 90.
I know starbucks isn’t amazing, but 90s extractions would be a whole other ballgame!
The coffee is okay, but no where close to the price they’re asking for.
The pricing is also egregious considering I can make a far better cup at home for less.
You’ll always make a better cup of coffee at home for less.
But people pay a little extra for the convenience of not doing it. Starbucks however is banking on their reputation to overcharge, which seems to be finally backfiring.
The coffee is better at home, sure. But I can’t make what is essentially a specialty milkshake at home without going out and getting the tools and ingredients.
Sometimes I can have little a of Starbucks, as a treat.
I just found a local place that makes a bomb chocolate coffee shake (I mean uhh. A blended mocha) and support them.
The worst part is that I can get Starbucks anywhere but only get my local stuff near home.
In my town one of the two coffee shops closed down but they opened like 4 more Starbucks, we have 4 within a quarter mile on the same street it’s wild
I will never understand people who get drip coffee at Starbucks… back when I got things from there it would just be the occasional over the top milk shake. Starbucks legitimately has the tools to produce ridiculous drinks with far less hassle then it’d take at home.
Is their coffee much more than $2? Last I remember, it wasn’t THAT expensive considering it isn’t shit coffee like a Burger King/McDonalds or etc.
Or by drip do you mean their like clover machine fancy coffees? I never bothered with those so idk how much that was.
2.95 for a default size black coffee at the one closest to me right now
Ok but what is the default size? And where-ish are you? In the Starbucks app, it defaults to Grande for me and that is $3.45.
A Tall is $3.25.
A Short is $3.15.
This is in Northern California.
McDonalds coffee is decent, at least in Canada.
Tim Horton’s terrible.
It’s like drinking Bud Light at a bar. The beer isn’t the product, the venue is.
Yeah the only Starbucks in my area I’ll go into is the reserve but that’s because it’s just really cool in there. If I want a busy environment that feels like a steampunk world then it’s the place to be. Coffee there still sucks tho and even with the cool location I’m still only in there maybe a couple times a year
I don’t like candy bars or milkshakes. If I’m going to a Starbucks its at 3am in an airport, it’s the ONLY option, thus I’m willing to tolerate burnt to fuck drip coffee.
That’s… not true. I have zero coffee making skills and tools.
A kettle and some instant coffee, better then any coffee I’ve ever had from a shop
No not always. I knew this Turkish immigrant who had his own little coffee shop you could not make close to the stuff he made let me tell you. God I miss him.
$3/coffee or some shit. Versus a few pennies for a whole fkn pot of coffee at home.
Try $6.75 for their new refresher drinks. Flavored water over ice. No wonder sales are declining.
Only down 3%? I was hoping more. Still, fuck em. Maybe fewer consumers want to pay out the nose for a cup of flavored sugar with coffee?
When you demand infinite growth any decline in growth is a catastrophe.
Same reason McDonald’s shit itself over a 1% decline in revenue.
I used to be middle management in retail. The province wide financial meetings had franchisees shitting themselves because the profit vs cost percentage had gone down, despite the actual profit amount continuing to increase (by raising prices).
These people do not live in reality. All numbers must always go up.
Overpriced cafeinated milkshakes for adults makerating as “coffee”.
makerating
Masquerading?
It’s an honestly difficult borrowed French/Italian word just checking if that’s what you were going for.
Yep, you’re correct, I butchered it. Tired.
Starbucks customer: Ooof, don’t talk to me before I’ve had my morning coffee…Id like a Venti vanilla caramel mochaccino with 2 extra pumps of vanilla and double drizzle on the whipped cream…but low fat whipped cream
Low fat tho. Cause I don’t wanna get fat lol
Remember kids: fat bad, sugar good.
This message was financed by the fine people of the snack and fast food industry.
For granted, there’s no shortage of coffee shops in my city. Locally operated and owned, and they have better coffee at better prices. Starbucks isn’t even a reasonable choice with so many better options available.
I’d always choose a smaller spot anyway. More casual and less crowded, but still doing good business.
Fast food is where the pushback is beginning. Consumers NEED to push back on greed-flation for things to change, especially in areas of elastic demand. Hopefully, this trend continues and the companies react the right way (I know, that’s overly optimistic)
The only time I ever go to Starbucks now is if I’m traveling and don’t want to stop and run in somewhere and it’s the only real option at the exit.
Their coffee is god-awful and always has been.
I will always go to local places before Starbucks. And even if I don’t want to get out of my car, local places with drive-throughs are becoming pretty common now. There’s several here. There’s a guy in a small town nearby who owns a tiny drive-up kiosk with a Starbuck’s on one side of town and another chain called Biggby’s being built on the other side of town. I talked to him about whether or not he’s worried. He’s not. He has a ton of loyal customers and offers a bunch of stuff that the others don’t, like a huge number of smoothie flavors and multiple types of cake you can get slices from. There’s even a fresh vegetable stand a friend with a farm set up next to the kiosk so you can get some fresh produce after you get coffee if you’re so inclined.
If you scorch coffee beans, all the nuance of their flavor is destroyed, leaving you with beans that taste like shit. However, the beans will also all taste the same no matter where they’re sourced from. I’m convinced this is why Starbucks coffee tastes like shit. They want it to have consistent flavor no matter where in the world you’re getting it. If you cover that with enough cream and sugar and artificial flavoring, you can make it palatable again.
Considering, like any other major fast food corporation, they likely have a large number of food scientists on staff who could absolutely make a better-tasting cup of coffee if they were tasked to, I think you’re on to something there.
McDonald’s is similar with pretty much all of their food. No, a Quarter Pounder doesn’t taste like a normal burger, but it essentially tastes the same in New York as it does in Vancouver or (I presume) Mexico City.
If McDonalds tastes the same everywhere as it does where I live how the hell are they still in business? Crap tastes like greasy (yet somehow also dry) styrofoam at this point.
First McDonald’s and now Starbucks. Cool. Screw em.
Now do Chipotle next!
But only when they don’t have Carne Asada
I stopped eating at Chipotle many years ago when my local Chipotle caused dozens of food poisoning cases. Luckily there are lots of mom-and-pop burrito joints where I live, and their food is almost always better and cheaper than Chipotle.
The chairs in that picture are peak 2010s.
Isn’t this because they were supporting Israel?
As much as I wish it was, it’s more likely people are cutting back spending across junk food, see McDs having the same problem.
Maybe it’s because their coffee is garbage, their prices are high, and many people have less disposable income than they used to.
Whee hee! Look! Another signpost for a recession. McDs also are taking a hit bc of pricing and such
Here in the NW, in their own home territory, they’re few and and far between these days. There is way too much good coffee around for them to support being on every street corner like they used to be.
There is way too much good coffee around for them to support being on every street corner like they used to be.
Frankly, I don’t know what they were thinking, the barrier to entry to get a good coffee shop going is a lot lower than say a restaurant or fast food joint. They don’t need kitchens or seating areas or food stuff or even a big enough lot for a parking lot and I’d bet the margins for coffee are a lot bigger. It was never going to be very long before competitors were everywhere lol
I think it’s just a combination at this stage. Something for everyone to hate about them.
They’re anti-union. They’re meme levels of expensive in an era of strapped cash. People are conscious of “local” business over something they know is a chain. Brand reputationn for low quality for the price has set in. And lastly people are aware of their stagnation. There’s nothing “revolutionary” going on in the coffee industry to draw customers who have been turned off back to them. Even McShungles can draw people back to them with a special sale on something. Starbucks never does that I’m aware of (and if they do they’re doing a shit job of advertising as evidenced by my lack of knowledge)
We are laughing at your misfortune, you fucking ghouls
I like some things from Starbucks, but ever since the manager tore into an autistic girl for having the gall to have boundaries while being sexually harassed, I stopped going. I even reported that POS manager to the DM. Fuck that guy. Girl did nothing wrong and got shit on for “not reporting it the right way”, “not working it out like an adult”, and “being mean”. FFS, the person she was training was the damn poster child for Sexual Harassment and she told him no, she did not want to be touched nor hit on.
I much prefer my local coffee shops, but they are all ~15 minutes away. Only one of them has a decent amount of seating with outlets. The rest are small and don’t really accommodate people who want to work for a few hours, which is the main reason I am going to a coffee shop in the first place. The only close one was that Starbucks.
